Canzano: Spurs, Inc. blowing out the Trail Blazers like candles

Given how cranky Gregg Popovich sounded after blowing out
the Trail Blazers like a candle in Game 3, there might be something worth
learning here.

Here "Pop" was, waving off his team's 25 for 25 performance
at the free-throw line, dismissing only one first-half turnover as, "an
aberration," frowning in the face of a third straight dismantling of Portland,
this one by a score of 118-103.

"It's a game of mistakes," he said, rattling off the variety
of ways his team could improve. Shortly after, someone pointed out that he must be
happy his players made all their free throws. "Is there a question in there? Are
you asking me if I'm happy?" he asked. "I'm glad we made our free throws. It
was important for us."

Popovich shouted at Tim Duncan up by 15 from his bench. He blistered Tony
Parker up by 18, and called a timeout in the fourth quarter, game over, just to make clear he wasn't entirely pleased.

Just wait until he figures out the Spurs scored 60 points in
the first half, and only 58 in the second. Laps around The Nines hotel, I'm sure.

The temptation today is going to be to declare the season
over in Portland and all lost, and by all means you should go with that, because I don't
have a single argument against it. But while you're doing so, ask yourself how
far away the Blazers are from the sky-high expectations and the sheer
excellence being demonstrated in the current exhibition being put on by Spurs,
Inc.?

There's a standard here, and it shouldn't be lost as we're
focusing on the flawed pick-and-roll defense from Portland or the line of missed
shots or the anemic bench play. It's frustrating to look on the court and feel as though the Spurs are playing 6 vs. 5, wave after wave in an International layup line, but we must address the larger picture.

We're a society focused on results. We wait for
the final score. We look at bench scoring (40-6 Spurs), we look at San
Antonio's 22 points scored off 15 Blazers turnovers. But the biggest thing we
should all take from this series is a sheer appreciation for how locked in a king looks as he's approaching
his throne, and how far Portland feels from reaching the pinnacle of this game.

The Spurs are the best outfit in the NBA. Barring injury, they're going to play for a championship again this season. If they win, it will be the franchise's fifth in 15 seasons. The Blazers have muddled together a nice
little team with a solid nucleus of starters, but there isn't yet a culture here,
or a pattern of excellence, or standards, or anything called "The Blazer Way" that makes a performance such as the one we're seeing unacceptable.

It's absolutely unacceptable to consistently fail to make basic adjustments to the pick-and-roll game San Antonio is performing on the weak side of Portland's defense. It's disappointing to miss so many point-blank shots. It's absurd that the Blazers have abandoned their confidence, and that the team's bench has been a no-show in the biggest moment of this season.

Remember when Damian Lillard made that three-point shot to win Game 6?

Feels like a decade ago.

Portland has work to do in the front office, improving the
bench this offseason. The starting players are being taught a lesson in front of the world by
the Spurs. The hope here is that they'll utilize that in their offseason, understanding what it takes to be a championship contender. Coach Terry Stotts, who outclassed Rockets coach Kevin McHale in the
opening round of the playoffs, is now locked up with a grand master in
Popovich. It's not been pretty.

An NBA executive watched the first half of Game 3 and texted
me of the Blazers vs. Spurs, "Like playing chess against the computer..."

I half expected the halftime show at the Moda Center would be
the Spurs on unicycles, performing pick-and-rolls. Alas, they were in the locker room up 20 presumably being tongue-lashed by Popovich.

NBA teams that lead a playoff series 3-0 are 108-0.

The Blazers aren't just being schooled — they're being old
schooled.

You can hang a "1977" banner from the arena. You can replay Lillard's game-winner against the Rockets during timeouts, as they did at the Moda Center. You can talk about what Mo Lucas meant to the franchise, and point out that Portland trailed 0-2 in their best-of-seven series against the 76ers all those years ago. But if you don't have the all-out commitment to winning and a precision to detail in February, when you reach for it in May, it's just not going to be there.

The problem in trying to defeat a computer at chess is the large number of possible moves. You're faced with a tree of options, and the computer has an instant response to each one. The thing is programmed, like the Spurs, to quickly and efficiently come up with the counter-move. You may run off a series of favorable plays, just like the Blazers did at the start of the third quarter with a 17-4 run. But then you realize you're just down seven and Popovich is on the other side of the board, pissed off, and ready to counter.

Before the arena was open to fans, Duncan was warming up with some of the other Spurs. He goes through the same progression of midrange shots, and jump hooks, and layups each game. I noticed young Blazers center Meyers Leonard sitting on the scorer's table, watching Duncan. He was studying Duncan's progression. He was watching, taking mental notes.

The Spurs are machine-like. Portland needs to study this franchise like Leonard did Duncan, and find its own culture along the way. I'm convinced Stotts can be the engineer of this, but his general manager, Neil Olshey, needs to get him some help. And his owner needs to give him the kind of job security that makes a team understand who's in charge when the coach is shouting from the sideline.

Stotts' contract is up with one more loss to the Spurs.

The Blazers hold a team option for next season.

I didn't think it would be a good idea to ask Popovich if he could shout at his stars and coach like he did in Game 3 with no time left on a contract, facing only the possibility of a team option. Maybe when he's having a better day.